The History of Drafting in Precision Machining

Drafting has been around for many years. In some of the caves that were inhabited by man, drawings have been found that showed how early man lived, hunted, and died. The Chinese were the first to develop a paper that could be drawn on. These drawings were given to the toolmakers so they had an idea of what the end product should look like.

For many years animal skins were used to draw on because they did not shrink or become out of shape like paper did at that time. Machining got a big boost when the industrial revolution took over in the 18th century. In England they had plenty of labor and tried to make everything as precise as possible. In the United States there was not excess labor and things were laid out over a wide area, so they concentrated on faster production. During the 18th century many new inventions were born and ideas of mass production took root.

Now with CAD (Computer Aided Design) new ideas can be turned out much faster. The methods used remained basically unchanged until around 75 years ago when electronics began to be used. After that the CAD sped up the work a great deal, and also decreased the amount of time a drawing took.

When it comes to precision machine work many special classes are required. A mechanical engineer plans the machine and may even install it. Mechanical drafters make drawings for blueprints that show everything is a part of the machine.